TT No.63: Mike Latham - Saturday 1 February 2014: Welsh FA Trophy Fifth Round: Ruthin Town 1-3 Llanrug United; Venue: Coleg Llandrillo 3G; Attendance: 30 (estimate); No admission or programme; FGIF Match Rating: 4* 

Matchday images (16) https://picasaweb.google.com/footballgroundsinfocus/RuthinTownFC03

The Welsh Trophy generally produces rich entertainment and some intriguing ties between teams that would normally oppose one another; competed for by teams at level 3 and below of the Welsh pyramid it is a keenly fought prize.

This tie was proving difficult to fit in due to the dreadful weather in North West Wales. After two postponements at Llanrug the tie was switched to Ruthin, but with no chance of play due to water-logging the clubs took a sensible decision to stage the tie at a neutral venue roughly equidistant between them. With the wet weather producing so many postponements it seemed an ideal opportunity to watch a decent game at a new venue; it proved to be a good decision.

Llandrillo College is an impressive facility and according to its website offers 4,000 courses, in other words something for everybody. The college has a main campus in Rhos-on-Sea  and smaller sites in Rhyl, Denbigh, Abergele, Llanrwst, and St Asaph, and approximately 120 learning centres across the counties of Conwy and Denbighshire.

This tie was played on the caged 3G pitch at Llandrillo which according to one spectator I spoke to cost a cool £750,000. The campus is on Llandudno Road at the westerly extremity of Rhos-on-Sea, bordering Rhos-on-Sea Golf Course and close to Penrhyn Bay. It is certainly a very good surface and play had only taken place for a few minutes before you began to forget the game was taking place on a synthetic surface.

Surprisingly, no admission was taken and there were no programmes. There were no spectator facilities as such but most gathered along the nearside touchline where the recesses in the cage for the goals allowed plenty of room. With banking on two sides outside the cage, some spectators chose to watch the game from there and take advantage of an aerial view and also take some refuge from the biting and fierce winds and occasional showers.

Ruthin Town, formerly long standing members of the Cymru Alliance, are now in the Wrexham Area League while Llanrug are consistently one of the best sides in the highly competitive Welsh Alliance. The visitors shaded this game and looked more clinical in their approach play and finishing. They took the lead after 20 minutes when a low shot from distance eluded the home ‘keeper’s dive and took a firm hold of the tie early in the second half with a second. Ruthin hit the crossbar during their best spell of pressure but then conceded again to put the tie out of reach. Despite a late rally, which brought a consolation goal and saw the visitors reduced to ten men when their goalkeeper was sent-off for violent conduct, Llanrug ended up deserved winners of a well-fought game and will now be at home to FC Nomads of Connah’s Quay in the quarter-finals in a fortnight’s time.

It was an interesting game at a new and impressive venue on another wet afternoon with postponements all around. Fortunately the rain mostly held off and there was some shelter from the biting wind. It was also great to see the fabulous facilities at this educational facility which, if replicated elsewhere would surely help the development and future prosperity of the game in Wales. 

contributed on 01/02/14